Interview by Kris Peters
Post punk/goth outfit She Wants Revenge hit pay dirt with their first ever single Tear You Apart back in 2005, a song that somehow made it to the ears of Lady Gaga, who in turn insisted producers of a TV show she was working on called American Horror Story: Hotel included the track in its soundtrack.
This early leg up introduced She Wants Revenge to an instant global market and served them well over their debut self-titled album and follow ups This Is Forever and Valleyheart before disbanding in 2012.
2022 saw the band reunite and start producing music again, with their ensuing success setting She Wants Revenge down a touring path that sees the band finally travel to Australia for the first time this October.
HEAVY caught up with guitarist Justin Warfield to delve deeper.
"Dude, it's like... it is a running joke amongst the band, and I'm sure any Aussie fans by now, that if we were to have announced these shows no-one would believe it anyway," he laughed. "Every time we do it gets cancelled. So, Thomas Froggatt - who is the bass player in She Wants Revenge and started in the original line-up as guitar player - he is from Byron Bay and Melbourne and he grew up between the two, so when I told him the dates we were coming he said 'yeah, yeah right, I'll believe it when I see it (laughs). And, so, it's really exciting. It sucks to dealing stereotypes but I just have to be honest. Whenever I can go to a place where the culture has inspired me or us as a band and as individuals, it's exciting. It's a place where there's so much great history and so much great music and so much culture and for me as a lifelong surfer to get to the Gold Coast is unbelievable. I grew up watching... I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to surfing and some of my absolute heroes of the sport are from there and I've been looking at photos and videos forever. So the idea that not only do I get to go and play shows for audiences that probably thought we would never come - plus we're a band that has broken up twice before - so for the people that have been with us the whole time and grown old with us and are like 'oh wow, they're really coming', or for the new people who have discovered us from a soundcheck or Pandora or Spotify or a playlist... the fact that they get to experience us and what we do live and we get to share three nights of music with our fans old and new... we get to see the culture and the cities that are so exciting to us and the fact that I just get to surf... It's going to be outrageous."
In the full interview, Justin talks more about what to expect from the tour, preparing for a run of shows so far from home, what they are expecting from us, their breakthrough single and being noticed by Lady Gaga, what that meant for the band's career, the chances of a new album and more.